Mirroring Label Legends

[LightsACT]

So I have a light with a label legend and want to mirror it. The problem is the legend doesn't flip. The mirror tool works, the unit appears in its new position but the label information doesn't flip.

This was a useful feature back in 11.5 (just jumped to 2008) where you could take two pipes of lights right next to each other with the same legend and simply flip on pipe so that the two pipes information did not conflict with each other.

Anyways anyone else have this problem. I figure there's got to be a setting somewhere but I'll be damned if I can find it.

Thanks,

Lightsact

[MrTemplate]

hello Lightsact;

you are accurate in your description and your dilemma. no, the legends no longer flip. this was changed in vw12 as memory serves. the flip impacts only the lighting device. i have asked for it to be returned to it's former state and have found no one who feels the same way.

i feel your pain but right now to my knowledge there is no alternative but to create an additional label legend that is a "flip" of your original, in order to achieve what you describe. so first you flip the lighting device, then you apply the "flipped" label legend (or change the name in the 'use legend' OIP data pane).

hth,

shelley

[SAR]

I also missed the label legend mirror when it changed in Ver. 12, particularly, when mirroring pipe ends. Auto Plot tools for spotlight does have a legend flip tool that works with selected lamps or all lamps for the legend that wants fields exchanged.

Steve Ross

[Sam Jones]

Actually, the AutoPlot tool will only swap one field's position with another field's position. What is needed is being able to move the whole position from one side of the lamp to the other. Not currently doable. I was tempted to say not possible, but it is; I just don't know how. Label Legends are arcane and difficult to mess with in vectorscript. To the extent that Kevin can take some time to drop me a note and a hint, I am his perpetual student as to how LLs work

As for mirroring, actually almost everyone would like it to go back to the way it was, but that's not going to happen. It turns out that it is possible to get unrealistic geometry in 3D when you flip or mirror. When Kevin first told me this, I responded that I was unable to create bad geometry with mirroring or flipping. He did not bother to respond. Pat Stanford of the LA user group showed me the kinds of bad geometry that could happen. It turns out that 3D objects that are not symmetrical on 2 axes will yield inappropriate results. The results aren't wrong, but they are not what you want when you flip or mirror a light. PROBLEM, I don't have any fixtures that are not symmetrical on both axes, and I _really_ miss not being able to flip or mirror lights. What happens when you invoke a flip or mirror command is that the light gets rotated 180 degrees. Despite what you may think, rotating 180 and flipping/mirroring are not the same thing, hence what happens to the LL. The only current solution is to have another LL for fixtures pointing in the resulting direction. We had all hoped that designating an LL as "non rotating" would go toward solving this problem, but currently doing that usually leaves the color number out in space or behind the fixture.